Parents face an increasingly difficult decision: embrace technology in children’s education or protect their developing brains. New research from cognitive neuroscientists provides a clear answer. The evidence overwhelmingly supports limiting—or eliminating—screen time for children, with striking data showing that kids with minimal technology exposure significantly outperform their screen-dependent peers on every measurable cognitive metric.
Dr. Jared Cooney Horvath, a cognitive neuroscientist who testified before the U.S. Senate in January 2026, laid out the scientific case plainly: “Even in schools, it doesn’t matter what the size of the screen is…and it doesn’t matter who bought it…All of these things are also going to hurt learning, which in turn are going to hurt our kids’ cognitive development.”
The stakes are higher than ever. Understanding why screen time damages childhood cognitive development can help parents make informed decisions about their children’s futures.
Reason 1: Gen Z Is the First Generation to Underperform Cognitively
For over 130 years, each successive generation has outperformed the previous one on standardized cognitive measures. Until now.
Gen Z is the first generation in modern history to underperform previous generations on cognitive assessments—despite attending more school than their parents and grandparents. This decline spans every cognitive domain: basic attention, memory, literacy, numeracy, executive functioning, and even general IQ.
The timing is no coincidence. This underperformance began around 2010—precisely when schools began widely adopting digital technology. As Horvath explained, “What happened around 2010 that decoupled schooling from cognitive development? The answer appears to be the tools we are using within schools to drive that learning.”
What this means for your child: Children growing up with screens are literally less cognitively capable than previous generations at the same age, despite having more educational resources available.
Reason 2: Research Across 80 Countries Shows Consistent Performance Decline
This is not an American phenomenon. It’s global.
Across 80 countries worldwide, researchers have documented the same pattern: once nations widely adopt digital technology in schools, student academic performance declines significantly. The effect is dramatic and consistent.
Students who use computers approximately 5 hours per day for school learning purposes score more than two-thirds of a standard deviation lower than students who rarely or never use technology at school. In practical terms, this means a student using computers 5+ hours daily performs at a level equivalent to having missed an entire year of schooling compared to peers with minimal tech exposure.
“Take any state’s NAEP data and compare it to when that state adopted one-to-one technology widely and watch what happens,” Horvath demonstrated. “The NAEP data will plateau and then start to drop.”
What this means for your child: The technology your child’s school adopts isn’t making learning better—it’s making it worse, regardless of how “educational” the tool claims to be.
Reason 3: 60+ Years of Academic Research Shows the Same Pattern
This isn’t new. This is settled science.
Academic research dating back to 1962—over 60 years of evidence—consistently shows the same finding: when technology enters education, learning outcomes decline. This isn’t about implementation quality, teacher training, or using the wrong app. The problem is biological and fundamental.
Educational psychologist Dylan William from the University of Oxford, one of the world’s leading experts on education effectiveness, recently summarized the situation: “EdTech is a revolution that’s been coming for 60 years, and we’re going to have to wait another 60 because it ain’t doing anything.”
The mechanisms are well-understood by neuroscientists. Humans have evolved biologically to learn from other human beings—face-to-face interaction, real-world experience, physical engagement. Screens circumvent this natural learning process. “It’s not that the tech isn’t being used well enough. We have evolved biologically to learn from other human beings, not from screens. And screens circumvent that process,” Horvath explained.
What this means for your child: No amount of updating software, retraining teachers, or marketing “educational” features will overcome the fundamental biological mismatch between screens and human learning.
Reason 4: Screen Type and Educational Branding Don’t Matter
Your child’s school district just approved new tablets. The vendor promises they’re “educationally optimized.” Don’t be reassured.
The size of the screen doesn’t matter. Whether it’s a phone, laptop, or desktop doesn’t change the cognitive impact. Whether the school purchased it or a parent did is irrelevant. Whether the device has “education” stamped on the packaging makes no difference.
“It doesn’t matter what the size of the screen is—if it’s a phone, laptop, or desktop. It doesn’t matter who bought it or whether it’s school-sanctioned or educationally branded. All of these things are also going to hurt learning,” Horvath emphasized.
This finding is critical because many parents mistakenly believe that school-approved technology is different from—and safer than—personal devices. The research is clear: all screens produce the same cognitive harm in learning environments.
What this means for your child: If your child’s school is handing out tablets, laptops, or devices regardless of the marketing, the cognitive impact will be negative. The educational branding is a distraction, not a solution.
Reason 5: Screen Time Damages Attention Spans and Executive Functioning
Screen time doesn’t just reduce test scores. It actively damages the neural systems underlying attention, focus, and self-control—abilities central to learning and success.
Cognitive measures show dramatic declines in children’s ability to:
- Sustain attention: Maintaining focus on a single task for extended periods
- Working memory: Holding and manipulating information mentally
- Executive functioning: Planning, organizing, delaying gratification, managing complex tasks
- Reading comprehension: Deep, sustained engagement with text
- Literacy skills: Writing, verbal expression, linguistic sophistication
These aren’t minor academic skills. They’re foundational cognitive capacities that predict success across every domain—not just school, but careers, relationships, and life satisfaction.
Children with limited screen exposure develop robust attention systems and executive function abilities. Children with heavy screen exposure show measurable deficits in these exact areas, often manifesting as difficulty concentrating, impulsivity, and reduced ability to complete complex tasks.
What this means for your child: Protecting your child from screen time isn’t just about test scores—it’s about building the neurological foundation for success in every aspect of life.
Reason 6: Schools Are Redefining Learning Standards to Accommodate Technology Weakness
Rather than removing screens, some educators are quietly lowering learning standards to match what screens can deliver.
Consider reading comprehension. Historically, students read substantial passages (750+ words) and answered questions requiring deep inference—demonstrating genuine understanding. The new SAT reading section has been redefined to consist of 54 short sentences with one factual question each. This measures skimming ability, not reading comprehension.
“Why would we ever do that? Because what do kids do on computers? They skim. So rather than determining what we want our children to do and gearing education towards that, we are redefining education to better suit the tool. That’s not progress, that is surrender,” Horvath stated bluntly.
This is happening across multiple domains. Writing standards are being lowered to accommodate short-form digital communication. Numeracy instruction is being simplified. Historical and scientific literacy requirements are being reduced. The common thread: standards are being reshaped around screen limitations, not educational ideals.
What this means for your child: Your child isn’t just receiving lower-quality education due to screen use—your child’s school may be officially lowering academic standards, accepting reduced cognitive capacity as the new normal.
Reason 7: The Biological Reality: Screens Don’t Activate Natural Learning Mechanisms
The fundamental problem isn’t pedagogical—it’s neurobiological.
Human brains evolved over millions of years to learn through direct interaction with other humans and the physical environment. Learning mechanisms activate through:
- Social presence: Face-to-face interaction with teachers, mentors, peers
- Physical engagement: Manipulating objects, experiencing real-world consequences
- Multisensory input: Sight, sound, touch, spatial awareness simultaneously
- Emotional connection: Genuine human relationships that motivate effort and persistence
- Real-time feedback: Immediate, personalized responses to actions and questions
Screens cannot provide most of these elements. Video lectures lack real-time responsiveness. Digital interactions replace face-to-face presence. Digital representations replace physical manipulation. Screen-based instruction activates a fundamentally different—and less effective—set of neural systems.
“We have evolved biologically to learn from other human beings, not from screens,” Horvath explained. The solution isn’t better technology. It’s returning to what human brains are actually designed to do.
What this means for your child: No educational technology can overcome the mismatch between how children’s brains actually learn and how screens deliver information.
Reason 8: Cognitive Decline Happens at the Exact Time Kids Should Be Getting Sharper
The timing is tragic. Childhood and adolescence are critical periods for cognitive development. This is when brains build the neural architecture underlying lifetime intellectual capacity.
“At the exact time when we need our kids to be sharper than we are, we are implementing tools that make them less sharp,” Horvath emphasized.
Previous generations benefited from these formative years to develop deep focus, extensive knowledge, sophisticated reasoning, and robust attention. Gen Z is using these critical years to develop screen habits: rapid attention-switching, shallow processing, information skimming.
The neural pathways built during childhood persist into adulthood. Children who develop strong attention systems retain strong attention into adulthood. Children who develop skimming habits and scattered focus carry those patterns forward. The cognitive foundations being damaged now will shape your child’s capabilities for the rest of their life.
What this means for your child: The screen time habits your child develops today become the cognitive patterns that define tomorrow.
Reason 9: Multiple Cognitive Domains Are Affected Simultaneously
Cognitive decline from screen use isn’t limited to one area. It’s comprehensive.
Research documents declines across:
- Attention and concentration (inability to focus)
- Memory (difficulty retaining information)
- Literacy (reduced reading comprehension and writing ability)
- Numeracy (mathematical reasoning and problem-solving)
- Executive functioning (planning, organization, impulse control)
- General IQ (overall intellectual capacity)
- Processing speed (ability to analyze information quickly)
- Fluid reasoning (adapting to new problems)
This isn’t a single deficit. It’s a global reduction in cognitive capacity across every measurable intellectual domain.
What this means for your child: Screen time doesn’t just make your child a weaker reader or worse at math. It reduces overall cognitive capacity across the board.
Reason 10: The Opportunity Cost—What Your Child Is Losing
Screen time isn’t neutral. It’s not simply “neutral technology.” Every hour spent on screens is an hour not spent on activities that build cognitive capacity.
Children with limited screen time engage in:
- Deep reading: Extended engagement with substantive texts
- Creative play: Unstructured imagination and problem-solving
- Physical activity: Movement that supports brain development
- Social interaction: Face-to-face relationship-building
- Hands-on learning: Real-world experimentation and discovery
- Sustained attention: Completing complex tasks without interruption
- Critical thinking: Grappling with genuine intellectual challenges
Every hour spent scrolling is an hour lost to developing genuine intellectual capacity.
What this means for your child: Reducing screen time isn’t about taking something away from your child—it’s about giving your child access to the activities that actually build cognitive ability.
What Parents Should Do: The Clear Evidence
The neuroscience is unambiguous. The 60-year research consensus is clear. The international data across 80 countries is consistent.
Children with little to no screen time outperform children with significant screen exposure on every cognitive metric. The effect size is large. The consistency is remarkable. The urgency is pressing.
Immediate steps:
- Eliminate unnecessary screen time in schools. Advocate for analog teaching methods where research shows they work.
- Limit personal device use. Set clear boundaries on smartphone, tablet, and computer use outside of essential tasks.
- Prioritize face-to-face learning. Maximize teacher-student and peer-to-peer interaction.
- Restore reading and writing. Return to substantive texts and original composition rather than digital shortcuts.
- Support physical engagement. Prioritize hands-on learning and real-world problem-solving.
- Demand accountability. Question schools adopting technology without evidence it improves learning.
The Bottom Line: No Screen Time
Your child’s cognitive future depends on decisions you and your schools make today about screen exposure.
The evidence is overwhelming: children with minimal screen time develop stronger attention, better memory, superior literacy, more robust executive function, and higher overall cognitive capacity. Children with heavy screen exposure show systematic deficits across all these domains.
This isn’t about being anti-technology. It’s about being pro-child. Protecting your child’s developing brain from screen time is one of the most important investments in their future you can make.
As Horvath concluded his Senate testimony: “At the exact time when we need our kids to be sharper than we are, we are implementing tools that make them less sharp. So, thank you guys so much for today. I look forward to talking with y’all.”
The conversation starts with you—with parents and educators committed to cognitive development over technological convenience.
